Solid Rock and Sinking Sand
by JacksonMiracle
Summary: Sequel to TFWW. 20 Years after the battle with Winston, and the Cullens are back together again. New vampires, new humans, and a whole new world.
1. Twenty Years Later

**Author's Note: Set 20 years after my other FF "Thundering Floods and Whispering Winds," so you may want to read that one first. I strive for accuracy in all of my writing, so if you see any mistakes, please let me know. I can only get better with the help of loyal reviewers. And I do welcome all reviews, good and bad, as long as they are constructive. Thank you in advance for reading.**

**Disclaimer: All recognizable characters, settings, and situations are not mine. They belong to the awesome Stephenie Meyer. I just like to play with them. Cassandra, and Winston, however, do belong to me, so ask before you use them.**

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><p>Two decades, twenty years, one-fourth of the average life span of a human, and the number of years since all the Cullens had been in the same place at the same time. After the incident with Winston, Rosalie and Emmett were the first to decide that it was time to go off on their own for awhile. The years leading up to that moment had been especially hard on them, watching from the sidelines, like support actors in a play, present, but without any real participation in the main plot. First when Edward found love, then when he ran away from it, and then again when it ran after him and brought him back, they had been there, but the story would have been the same without them. They watched as smaller families began to emerge within the larger Cullen clan when Bella and Edward and later, Jasper and Alice became parents. The circumstances were different, but the end result was the same. Everyone had someone else, except for Rose and Emmett. All they had was each other. And as many promises as they made to each other that it was enough, they both knew the truth, that it could never be enough, that they wanted a smaller family unit within the larger clan more than anything. Living with the rest of the Cullens meant that they were reminded of this every moment of every day, and it was simply too much for them. Or more accurately, it was too much for Rose, but Emmett would never let her take all the responsibility for their decision to leave the family. He chose to leave too, for them, for their love, to ensure that maybe someday, they really would be enough for each other. They visited the others from time to time of course, but always managed to find an excuse to leave again.<p>

Their last face to face contact with the rest of the family had been two years ago. They had stayed with Bella and Edward and Nessie for almost six months before Rose had declared that it was too much and convinced Emmett that it was time to leave. It had happened right after Nessie had come in from being out with Jacob. She was looking for a woman's advice, and Rose had offered to help, but Nessie had declared that it was more of a Mom thing. The tall blonde didn't let on to how much the innocent comment had hurt her, but the next day, she and Emmett were gone.

After Rose and Emmett left, the other Cullens had stayed together for a couple more years, but soon Nessie started to age into a teenager and wanted to act like one too, and unfortunately, that was next to impossible in the small town of Forks, so the decision was made for the entire family to leave. Carlisle found an excellent opportunity at a teaching hospital in Maine. He would be supervising first year residents during the night shift at the ER. His face practically glowed when he heard about the opening; it was the perfect setting for him to test D Double V Solution. Diluted Vampire Venom was destined to be a medical breakthrough of epic proportions. Nessie, however, was unsatisfied with the short list of things to do in Maine, so after many long discussions, Edward and Bella announced to the rest of the family that they would not be joining them. Instead, they would be moving to Chicago where Nessie could be a real teenager, and Edward and Bella could attend Roosevelt University. Nessie would have to pose as Bella's younger sister to keep up appearances in front of the humans, but it was what they had all decided they wanted. No one was surprised when Jacob insisted on following them, unwilling, and perhaps, unable to be apart from Nessie.

Alice and Jasper were torn between wanting to stay with Carlisle and Esme, and wanting to go with Bella and Edward for the simple reason that Cassie had grown so close to Nessie. But in the end, it was Cassie who had made the decision for them. She told them in a rare moment of complete, open honesty, that she wasn't ready to start trying to blend into the human world just yet, that she wanted time to adjust to being a Vampire Angel and living forever before she attempted to remember what it was like to be a human. They talked about where they wanted to live for a long time, tossing around ideas about Vancouver, Denali, Philadelphia, and even Colorado. And again, it was Cassie who made the final decision. She wanted to see the world, so Jasper and Alice gave up the idea of finding a permanent residence, and decided to travel instead. They went to Europe, paid for by Emmett to settle his last bet with Jasper, and South America, they even managed to spend a little time in Australia. But for the past several years, they had been living with Peter and Charlotte. Peter had been the one to initiate the meeting that led up to their eventual living arrangements. He had called Jasper out of the blue one day and told him that he had one of his feelings that the two of them needed to stick close for a while. The feeling had never gone away, and no one could find an explanation for it, not even Alice with her vast array of visions to choose from. To pass the time, Cassie had started reading Jasper and Peter's history books. And when she was done with those, she read some of Charlotte's art books. Alice had taken up fashion design again, and as a surprise to everyone, Jasper started to write novels based on life during the Civil War.

Then finally, after twenty years of separation, two decades of being apart, it was as if someone flipped a switch, and the Cullen clan suddenly felt the need to be together again. Alice and Jasper were enjoying some time alone together on the back porch of Peter and Charlotte's farmhouse when the vision came to her. She stopped talking mid-sentence and stared straight ahead at the tree line just a couple yards away from the edge of the porch. On instinct, Jasper scanned the area for sights, sounds, smells, and feelings that might indicate unwelcome company. But he found nothing out of the ordinary, so he turned his full attention back on his wife, holding her hand and patiently waiting for the vision to come to an end. Finally, after what seemed forever, Alice slowly blinked, and focused her gaze on her husband. "It's time to go home."

Jasper didn't have to ask what she meant. They had decided a long time ago that home would always be with Esme and Carlisle. "Are you sure? I mean, you're ready to? It's not just a possibility that you saw? It was really something that you're ready for?"

Alice slowly shook her head. "I don't know. I saw us going home, so I don't know if it's because I'm ready to, or if it's because we're going to have to go because of something I haven't seen yet. I just know that I saw it. Edward and Bella and Nessie were already there when we got there."

"Have you talked to any of them lately?" It wasn't a hard question, but one that he honestly didn't know the answer to. It had been some time since he had made contact with his siblings. Perhaps, Alice had been doing some talking when he wasn't around.

"I talked to Edward a couple weeks ago, and to Bella just last night."

"What did she say?"

"That Nessie misses her grandparents, Carlisle and Esme."

"I miss them too. We haven't visited since last Christmas, and even then, we were only there for a couple of days. Long enough to exchange gifts and have a family meal/hunting trip."

"Esme has been asking to see some of my latest designs before they become mass marketed. And she did offer to edit your latest novel before it goes to the publisher."

"Esme. The number one purchaser of JAC Fashion, and A.C. Jasper novels."

"You need a better pseudonym. A.C. for Alice, Cassie. Really needs some work." Alice teased her mate.

"And you need a better name for your clothing line. Jasper, Alice, Cassie. Now that really needs some work." He teased in return.

A week and a half later found Edward, Bella, Nessie, and Jacob running through the woods to Carlisle's and Esme's newest home. Edward slowed his run marginally. "I can hear them." He whispered so that only Bella could hear him. "Esme's watching HGTV and planning a completely eco-friendly home and Carlisle's reading an article in a medical magazine claiming that the cure for cancer isn't that far away thanks to the discovery of a new element to be added to periodic table very soon. The discoverer wished to remain anonymous, but requested that the element be named Vampinium."

"So, Carlisle's gone public then? With D double V solution?" Bella asked astonished. "I thought he was still years away from being ready for that."

"Apparently, he's come further than we knew. Either that or there's someone talking to the press that shouldn't be. I wish he had told me that he was this close. Then again, we haven't exactly been around that much lately."

"Do you hear anybody else?"

"Nessie and Jacob are still about a mile behind us. And I think that Seth is nearby too. Alice called him after calling us. She thought that Jacob might like to see him. But no one else, so I guess Rose and Emmett must not have made up their minds yet."

"Or maybe it's more complicated than that, and only one of them's decided."

"That's not fair, Bella. You can't make comments like that if what Alice saw is really going to happen."

"And why does it have to happen the way that Alice saw? I liked it being just the three of us…well four if you count Jake."

"Alice said that it would be significant. That we all had to be together for it."

"Yeah, I still don't get that. Significant like the Volturi? I thought they were trying to leave us alone as long as we stayed separated like we've been for the past twenty years. If we come back together again, who knows what could happen? Maybe that's the trigger leading to Alice's significant vision."

"She says that it's not the Volturi, and I believe her. But the only thing she could see for sure was that it would only be a success if we were all together. And if we were separated when it happened, then it would be bad."

"Fine, I'll go along with this for now, but if she crosses a line, we're gone. I will not let Nessie be subjected to that." There was no need for her to clarify which she Bella was referring to. Rosalie had never gotten to the point where she and Bella could be true sisters and friends.

"They've caught our scent. They don't know if they should come to front door to greet us or not."

"It's ok, Carlisle and Esme." Bella called for the only parents she knew now.

"Edward, Bella, it's really you. I wasn't sure if you'd ever get here, it's been over a week since Alice called to say you were all coming in." Esme could no longer contain her excitement as she ran out the front door to give her children a welcome home hug. "Where's Nessie?"

"Saying goodbye to Jacob, he's going to be back later, but wants to spend the afternoon with Seth." Edward explained with surprisingly little resentment for the dog.

As if on cue, Nessie came running around the end of the house and leaped into Esme's waiting arms. "Grandma Esme! I'm so glad to see you!" The group made their way into the house, exchanging stories of the past few years in an effort to catch up with each other's lives."

Two hours later saw the arrival of Jasper, Alice, and Cassie. "Look at you, all grown up into full maturity! How does it feel?" Alice squealed when she saw Nessie for the first time since she had stopped growing as they entered Carlisle's and Esme's house.

"It's actually kind of weird not changing, but I like it for other reasons too." Nessie would never tell her aunt that it was because she and Jake were essentially the same age now and how that was the real benefit.

"Oh, I hate not being able to see you, but I guess there's more important things going on there." Alice grinned knowingly. She had hoped that once Nessie was fully matured, she would finally be able to see her, but so far, nothing. "Tell him I said hi. No one else has disappeared, so you'll be alone with him tonight."

"Um…actually, not if I get my way. There's something I'm trying to get him to talk to the family about…"

"Oh, wait, it just changed. You'll succeed, apparently. Everyone else just disappeared which tells me he'll be at the house tonight for that family meeting you requested. And since I can't see Em or Rose right now, I assume they'll even make it in time. See, I'm learning what the holes in my vision mean. It's almost as good as the real thing. Except, I can't see what we're going to talk about, or what everyone's reactions will be. Any hints?"

"Sorry. I'd rather we just tell everyone at once. But, can you see anything later on…after tonight…or even further into the future than that, like maybe another twenty years. Specifically about me and Jake? I know you can't usually see us, but anything? Just out of curiosity."

"Ness," Alice hesitated, then her eyes became unfocused as she attempted to look a little further in the future than she normally would, especially when it came to the wolves and Nessie. "All I'm getting is a headache. Maybe a couple of blurry flashes, but not enough to be able to tell anything concrete. I could show them to your dad if you want and see if he can make anything out of them. Sometimes he can when I can't and he's a lot closer to you and Jake as of late than I am."

"No!" Nessie hurriedly shot down the idea. She couldn't let her dad get any hint of what she and Jake were considering. She had already been so careful not to let her guard slip around him lately. "I mean, maybe later, after he knows what we want to talk to everyone about. I've kind of been memorizing atomic weights around him lately."

"I see." Alice contemplated the latest information for a second before she heard Cassie and Jasper on the front porch, and getting ready to open the door. She had been further ahead of them than she had thought. They had taken a short detour to hunt on the way to the house.

"It's ok you two, come on in. Cass, show Nessie how I did your make-up." Alice instructed the girl. Cassie slowly made her way into the room, but stayed behind Alice. "Hey, what's with all the shyness?" She could feel the girl shrugging her shoulders, and exchanged a quick look with Jasper, who had come fully into the room and was giving Nessie a hug in greeting. Jasper offered her a half-smile, and she knew that it was his sign that he didn't know why someone was feeling what they did, but that he wasn't going to do anything to change their mood. "Look, we still have to go say hi to Bella and Edward, so we're going to leave you two to catch up a little. Later, Ness." Alice said with a grin to the older of the two girls in the room, at least in terms of vampire years. She grabbed Jasper's hand and led him out of the main room and up the stairs to find their brother and sister.

"Cassie, I'm impressed. Alice did an amazing job. You look so old, 16, at least." Nessie gushed over the other girl. She had missed spending time with her.

"Yeah, that was the goal, I suppose. She and Jasper think it's time for me to go to school. And well, they want to make sure I can act the part of as many years as possible. Right now they're thinking maybe age 10 or 11 to age 15 or 16. There's only one problem. I really don't want to go to school. I like staying at home. Reading, working on puzzles, hunting whenever I want. I'm really learning a lot just by reading Jasper's and Peter's history and war books and Charlotte's art books. And I'm sure I can do the same with Carlisle's medical books. Can you talk to them? I would never ask, but they listen to you without thinking that it's some kind of newborn/immortal child thing. I've been a vampire for over twenty years, and they still treat me like a kid."

"No, with me it's a hybrid human/vampire in love with a werewolf/shape shifter thing." Nessie said sarcastically. "School really isn't so bad. Jacob and I went for three years a couple years ago. I've even done some online college classes with my mom. And I made a better grade than she did. I get it, I really do, school can be a drag sometimes, but it's necessary if we want to keep our cover around humans."

"Well, that's just it. Why do we even have to interact with humans? I mean if we stay isolated and feed on animals, we can be the Vampire Angels we're supposed to be and never have to interact with humans and fight so hard to blend in with them."  
>"This is a human world. Some interaction is always going to be unavoidable. Like when we go shopping. Yes, we can do that online and everything, but doing it in person is half the fun."<p>

"As long as our thirst is under control with animal blood…"

"How long has it been since you've been around a full human?"

"Well…" Cassie hesitated before answering. "Three years."

"Three years!" Nessie's eyes grew wide. "Why did Alice and Jasper let you go that long?"

Cassie shrugged. "It's not that big of a deal. I just stay at home with Peter and Charlotte when they want to go into town. And even though Alice never saw anything bad happening if I went with them, Jasper convinced her it was for the best. The last time I was around humans, I messed up. Alice and Jasper promised not to say anything, so I don't expect you know about it. But it was bad. I killed two humans. Alice didn't see anything until it was too late, so by the time Jasper got to me, they were both drained. He cleaned up the mess and we went home. They never mentioned it, but I know they were disappointed. So, they haven't been pressuring me to get back in contact with humans. Maybe they were wrong to change me in the first place if I don't have any better control than that."

"Oh, no, Cass. Don't say that. Have you tried talking to them about it? If you feel half of what you're acting right now, Jasper already knows, and it's got to be tearing him up."

"I know, I've been careful around him. I keep it buried. But that's why I don't want to go to school. I don't want to mess up again."

"Well, tell them that then. Maybe they have some ideas on how to help. Or if you really can't talk to them, then talk to my dad. He's practically an expert on control."

"Maybe. Or maybe I can just convince them to let me stay home."

"Good luck with that one. Eventually we all have to go to school. It's what being a Cullen is all about."

While Cassie and Nessie continued to talk, Alice and Jasper were waiting on the front porch for imminent arrival of Rosalie and Emmett. They didn't have to wait long for Emmett's jeep to pull into the driveway, and a cautious looking Rosalie to exit the passenger side as a beaming Emmett exited from behind the wheel.

"You made it. I knew you would." Alice said with a coy smile as she danced toward the driveway to properly greet her brother and sister with a tight hug for each. "Everyone else is already here. We all ran. And I do mean everyone, so are you ok with that?" The last was directed at Rosalie. "Wait…no, you're not, but you will be. Anyway, it's just so wonderful being together again. Oh, and Renesmee and Jacob called for a family meeting tonight. Don't know what about, and I obviously can't see it, but they figured this would be their only chance to talk to everyone at once, so it must be important."

Alice continued to babble, but Jasper wasn't listening to his mate. Instead, he was studying Rosalie. The last time he had crossed paths with her nearly five years ago, she hadn't exactly been in the best emotional state, and unfortunately he hadn't had a chance to talk to her about it then. And from the few phone conversations he'd had Emmett, it seemed that the goal of opening herself up to him completely had cost her a lot, and it was nearly impossible for her to hide her feelings from anyone now. He tilted his head to the side as he searched her current feelings. For now, she was relatively calm, but it wouldn't take much for the anxiousness just below the surface to escape. Rose gave him a pointed look in return and he watched as she squeezed Emmett's hand ever tighter. Emmett offered him a small nod and Jasper could feel his contentment and almost joy, although if that joy was at seeing everyone in the same place at the same time again, or at his new found openness with Rose, he would never know.

"I don't mean to interrupt, sis," Emmett finally spoke. "But Rose and I kind of would like to get unpacked before this family meeting thing."

"Say no more. You carry the bags, and I will arrange everything into its proper place." Alice easily gave the order, and in the blink of an eye the two of them were gone and Jasper and Rose were left alone staring at each other.

"So, did you have a good trip in?" Jasper asked his sister breaking the silence.

"Yeah," Rosalie said quietly with a nod.

"Do you want me to stand by, in case you need my help? When you see Cassie and Nessie? It's been a couple years, hasn't it?"

"Yeah, a couple. But, no, I don't want your help. I'm always going to feel something around them. And lately, I've needed to feel that. Emmett will be there."

Jasper offered Rosalie a half-grin. "You've really come a long way the past two decades. We haven't exactly talked about any of it since we all split up. There's been a lot of dancing around the issues. But…are you ok?"

"Yeah, I am. For the first time in my existence I'm really ok. Almost too ok, if you know what I mean."

"I sense that. But you'll get back in the grove quickly enough."

"I don't know, maybe." Rose shrugged and shook her head to herself. "Actually, I was thinking that if Alice saw the family all together for any length of time, now would be a good time for us to work on some more advanced fight training. Don't think that I forgot your promise. If I'm training for a war, it'll give me something to focus on, besides my open emotions."

Jasper looked Rose up and down for a split second, grinned, and nodded. "There is actually something I've wanted to teach you. I should warn you though, it is a difficult technique, and I've only ever witnessed it mastered in one vampire before. I've tried to teach it to Peter, but he couldn't master it, and honestly, I can't even execute it perfectly."

"Then, who was the one? And what makes you think I can pull it off?"

"Maria. And with my training, you'll be able to do it better than her."

"Again, why me?"

"Because, you know your emotions now better than any other vampire I've crossed paths with, and this technique is all about understanding yourself, and your own control. It's a highly calculated technique, and you have to be smart about when and how to use it, and you have impeccable judgment when it comes to fighting. I've seen it before in you."

"That's quite the reputation to live up to."

"And I have every confidence that you can pull it off. Training starts tomorrow."

"I'll be there."

Jasper didn't have time to respond before Alice reappeared at the doorway. "Jacob's here. It's time."


	2. A Little Meeting, A Little Training

**Author's Note: Updated chapter! After re-reading this chapter, I noticed several unforgivable mistakes. They have all been corrected now, and I apologize for the roughness of the old version. Hopefully this one will be much better and will better set the scene for things still to come. Thank you for your continued support, and patience.**

**Disclaimer: It's not mine, unfortunately.**

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><p>The clock on the mantle read just after four o'clock in the afternoon. All the extended Cullen family were sitting around the spacious living room waiting and listening to the tick-tick-tock of the mantle clock. Looks were being exchanged, but no one was speaking. Jasper, Alice, Bella and Edward shared the larger of two couches in the room. Cassie sat on the floor at the base of the arm chair Rose occupied, and Emmett leaned against the side of the chair. Carlise and Esme were in a similar pose in the other large arm chair. The last couch was occupied by Nessie and Jacob. This was their meeting, and yet neither one of them quite knew how to begin. "This is harder than I thought it was going to be," Nessie breathed as she looked nervously between the other members of her family. She felt a wave of calming energy coming from Jasper and gave him a small smile of appreciation.<p>

"I'll tell 'em." Jacob offered after sensing his imprint's nerves.

"No, I should do this. It was my idea. And regardless, we'll need their help eventually. But I should be the one to tell them."

"Take your time, Renesmee. Whatever it is, we'll support you if it's what's best for you, and we can talk through the rest of it if we need to," Carlisle offered his encouragement and a warm smile.

"Ok," Nessie took a deep breath. "Well, Jake and I have always talked about the future, and what it held for us, but we just found out something that could change all of it or maybe even answer some of our concerns about it. After we left Forks, some of the wolves apparently chose not to phase as often. Since they didn't have the immediate threat of us to worry about anymore, they just stopped phasing, or at least as much as they could control it. Then, eventually, they stopped being able to phase at all, even when they got angry, even if they wanted to. And when that happened, they also started aging more rapidly, or normally, more like a human, I guess. It's almost like their extra wolf gene returned to a dormant state. So, after learning of this, we were left with a bunch of questions. First, is it even possible to loose the ability to phase if you stop doing it for so long? Second, if it is, then will that happen to Jake, will he eventually stop being able to phase? If not, then will he eventually start aging like a normal human anyway, or can he control it just by continuing to phase as often as before? And what if he does stop phasing, and his wolf gene goes dormant or whatever, can he be…changed?" There were several audible gasps and hisses at the last question, but Nessie held up a hand to silence them. "Before you answer, we have really, really talked about this and we both just want to be together forever, whatever form that takes. If it means that Jake has to keep phasing with regularity, or if it means we have to change him, it's what we want. If he stops phasing and starts aging, it'll be the only way to keep us together at the same appearance of age. I would do it myself, if I was venomous and not involve the rest of you. But I'm not, so we are."

Edward could no longer contain himself at his daughter's request. "This is ridiculous! Are you crazy, Renesmee? You actually expect one of us to bite a dog? It'll make us sick if he tastes half as bad as he smells."

"Hey, I'm sick just thinking about it," Emmett added with a sneer.

Edward ignored the side comment and continued, "You're just like your mother always thinking about aging. Why can't you appreciate the time you do have?"

"We'll talk about that comment later, mister," Bella promised before turning her attention to Jacob. "Jake, I don't get it. What's changed? I mean, I know for a fact just a few years ago, you would have found a way to destroy yourself before you would even consider ever becoming one of us." It was the question everyone was thinking, but she was the only one who could speak it aloud. What could posses a dog to become a leech, the one thing he hated more than anything else in the world?

"Bella, when you were human, the first time we talked about imprinting in my garage, I told you that a wolf would do anything, _be_ anything for his imprint. And that's what this is. I'm willing to _be _anything for Nessie. If forever is what she wants, and this is the only way to give it to her, then so be it. I can handle three days of pain for a lifetime with her. I would go against everything that my people stand for just for Nessie. If this is even possible. And if it's not, then I'll prolong getting old any way I can. When Sam called me to tell me what had been happening in Forks, he said that I should ask all of you about it. Nessie convinced me that he was right. So, that's why we're here. Apparently, Sam's one of the wolves who can't shift at all anymore. He can't even hear his pack anymore. Jared was next in line to be Alpha, but he hasn't exactly risen to the occasion, if you know what I mean. And since I'm not in Forks any more, I can't take over his pack, so that leaves Leah in charge of both packs for the time being. All of that just to say that I can't exactly take this back to them, they have their own problems and drama to deal with. Sam thought it best if I asked you before jumping to any conclusions. He gets the imprint thing, so while he isn't happy that my life may have to take this path, a part of him gets it. And we still have lots of time before anything has to be decided. I've had no trouble with any of my wolf senses. But we just wanted to be prepared, and to get you prepared and on our side so to speak." The family was silent, everyone looking to Carlisle to answer the medical side of the questions, before commenting on the personal side of them again.

"I think that before I start making blind guesses about changing a werewolf into a vampire, active gene or dormant gene aside, I need to do a lot more research. And I think that I would like to start with talking to Sam for myself. Possibly run some tests on both him and you, Jacob. Because if this is something you are seriously considering, if it comes to the point where you can no longer phase, and you start aging, then I would like to do what I can to make your forever together a success."

"Thanks, Grandpa. That means a lot to both of us." Nessie said with a wide smile before her gaze traveled back over to her parents. Neither had seemed too enthusiastic at the announcement and she had to wonder if Jasper's radiating calm was the only thing keeping them from attacking Jake for even thinking of suggesting such a horrid thing. She and Jake had talked at length about how to handle a variety of reactions to this conversation, but all of that preparation was out the window now. Nothing could have helped them prepare for the reality of the reactions in the room.

No one was speaking, but there was an air of tension in the room. Everyone sat vampire still as they processed their own thoughts. They all knew enough about a wolf's imprint to not mess with it, but did they really want to welcome a former werewolf into their world as a vampire?

Finally, Nessie spoke again. "You know, a little more feedback on this would be kind of appreciated, since when did this family hold back on what we're thinking?"

"I don't like it. I don't think either one of you know what you're getting into with it," Edward snarled. "Is that enough feedback for you?" He then turned his glare to Carlisle. "And I'm shocked and appalled that you of all people are supporting this ludicrous proposal!"

Nessie stared at her father, close to tears, and received a comforting embrace from Jacob which she quickly leaned into, earning her another glare from Edward.

Carlisle looked between his first and his latest adopted children. "Edward, Bella, I know this is upsetting for both of you, your reactions have proved that. But I want to emphasize that by agreeing to help Jacob and Nessie, I'm not trying to undermine your authority as her parents. All I'm trying to do is help Jacob understand and unravel the mysteries and the potential paths ahead of him."

"We know, Carlisle, thank you." Bella said softly.

"So, I guess we're going back to Forks." Edward finally said with a sigh. "It's the only way for us to talk to Sam and get to the bottom of this."

Carlisle nodded his head solemnly, but Alice was slowly shaking hers from side to side. "I can't see it. Not with Jake here. But something doesn't seem right. I don't think we can go back to Forks. At least not all of us," Alice said quietly.

"What do you mean?" Jasper gently asked his wife.

"I mean, that Carlisle and Esme and Edward and Bella and Nessie shouldn't be a problem. But you and I and Cassie and Emmett and Rosalie can't go back. We have to stay here. You know how many times Peter and I have gone back and forth over the past couple of years. His gut feelings and my pieces of visions. Whatever we were sensing was going to happen here, not in Forks."

Jasper stiffened at the idea of having to be separated from half of his family so soon again after rejoining them, but finally nodded assent. "Alright. If you think it's best."

"I do." Her eyes quickly darted to Emmett and Rose and she received a nod from each of them indicating that they would agree to stay behind while the others traveled to Forks.

Again, silence predominated the room, and Emmett quickly grew bored and his thoughts turned to hunting, and fighting bears before slowly killing them and draining them. _Yeah, a good bear hunt, that's what I need. You interested, Edward?_

"Fine, Em, we can go hunting, but don't get too stuck on the idea of a bear." Edward finally grumbled. He had been listening to his brother's thoughts about hunting during the very long silence, and had finally had enough of it. "I'll be back by morning," Edward whispered in Bella's ear, and disturbed her stillness only long enough to kiss her shortly on the lips. The two brothers stood, and were out the front door in a flash.

"I've still been trying to see it," Alice confessed as soon as the two were out the door. "But every time, I think I get a flash, it's gone again. I can't tell if it's Jake or Nessie interfering or if it's just a lack of decisions being made."

Jasper tightened his grip on Alice's hand. "How's the headache?" he asked her quietly, knowing how much Alice's exertion was costing her body.

"Bearable."

"Just the same, maybe you should go lie down. I'll be up in a bit."

"Alright." Alice gave in with a tiny nod and hugged Jasper around the neck before disappearing up the stairs.

Nessie let out a deep yawn. "This hybrid needs to get some sleep," she joked. "You coming?" She asked looking Jacob in the eye.

"Nah, you go ahead. I promised Seth I would let him know how this went. I'll sleep outside tonight." He kissed Nessie solidly before allowing her to separate from him. "That never gets easy." He whispered to himself as he headed for the front door.

"Tell me about it," Jasper, Rosalie, and Bella whispered in unison, agreeing with Jacob that it was never easy to say goodbye to a mate or an imprint, even if it was only for a few hours.

"Do you need any help with your research, Carlisle?" Bella offered.

"Actually, I could use some help skimming the books in my library if you're interested." The vampire doctor admitted.

Esme smiled at Cassie, and held her hand out to the little girl. "Cassie, why don't you and I go work on a puzzle. I got some new ones off the internet this week when I found out you would be coming." Cassie nodded her head enthusiastically and took off after the other woman.

"I'm going to go sit in the porch swing." Rose made the announcement to no one in particular. It was dark outside, but when it came to vampire habits, it mattered little. It was always a perfect time to sit on a porch swing when you had all the time in the world.

Jasper hesitated for only a second before choosing to follow his sister out onto the back porch, rather than head upstairs to his and Alice's room.

"Don't you ever give up Jasper?" Rosalie asked from her spot on the back porch swing.

"Not when it's important." Jasper answered even though he knew it wasn't necessary. "I know Alice isn't resting like I asked her to. She's up there right now rearranging our closet. Apparently when our boxes arrived, and Esme hung up the clothes for us, she got a few things accidently out of order. It's all Alice was talking about on our run here."

"No one else has ever been able to figure out Alice's system." The words were said as fact without resentment or hostility. Jasper welcomed this new side of Rose.

"I don't know for sure how long we're going to have for this before Edward and Emmett get back from hunting, but Alice told me that I would only have the two opportunities to talk to you and I don't think we covered everything this afternoon before the big family meeting. I'm still not going to ask you to tell me anything specific if you don't want to. I'm guessing enough from your mood anyway. I just need to know if there's something I'm missing."

"A hundred years, Jas. That's how long it takes. And I'm not saying that I'm completely healed, but I'm closer now than I've ever been before. I don't hate my life so much anymore. And Emmett. Em's taken everything so much better than I ever gave him credit for. I'm so lucky to have him. And I can't believe that it took me so long to realize that. I love him, really love him. I love him enough to trust him. He's gone to the end of the world and back with me, and there's so much I was taking for granted. Now that I'm open to trusting him, there's no way I can go back to how it was before. Do I really feel that different to you now?"

"Oh, yes, Rosalie. Worlds different. It's like before you were holding in such a huge burden, and now it's gone. There's no darkness in you anymore. Therefore, now, there's hope. You really did finally find it all, didn't you?"

"I never let myself look before. And I have you to thank for getting me to start looking. If it wasn't for your battle with Winston, I may never have realized how much I needed to let some of my emotions out." It was the closest thing to an apology and a thank you she would ever give him. "That being said, I want to reiterate what I expect from the fight training I asked you for. I don't just want a repeat of battle tactics 101 that you usually give. I want to take advanced living the life of a warrior 501, and fight for your life 602."

"In other words, you want a doctorate degree from the Major Jasper Whitlock Academy of Warfare. Total graduates so far, three. Myself, Peter, and one other vampire, the one who replaced me at Maria's side."

"Yes, I think we're on the same page. Do I get anything special for being number four?"

"No, just the satisfaction that you did it. It's a lot of work, but no one who's ever enrolled flunks out. I think you may even be able to tackle the advanced track to graduation. Although, I may need to hire an assistant for some of the training. I would prefer to use Emmett, but the mate thing could be a problem. It might just be better for him if he stayed off academy grounds during training."

"Why?" Rosalie interrupted.

"Because he might not like me biting you." Jasper said with a half-smirk.

"Biting me? I don't I like that."

"The Major Jasper Whitlock Academy of Warfare takes learning very seriously. We will have real battles as part of the training, and there will be biting, it's unavoidable. Dismemberment is usually avoided, but it has happened. Biting is the only absolute in battle. But if you're not up to it and want to train at a less advanced level, I'd understand."

"No, I may not like the idea, but I'll handle it. But you're right about Emmett. So, I guess that means you'll be calling Peter in to assist, right?"

"Nope. I can use Alice. She's willing and capable. But if you can talk Emmett into letting me train my way, I'll welcome him too. We have some time yet to decide before I'll need the help."

"I would rather it be Em, but I don't know if I can get him to accept the consequences of the type of training I want. So, then Alice it is. But when the time comes to include her, I won't hold back on her anymore than I will on you, so can you two handle the whole mate in danger thing?"

"Won't be a problem for me or her. Meet me here at 10 AM. I'm scouting for the perfect location to turn into the academy tonight."

"Right. And thank you for doing this, Jas." Rose turned her attention back to the tree line and resumed the slight rocking motion of the porch swing.

Jasper turned to head back into the house, but before leaving he did something he very rarely did with anyone but Alice and opened his emotions completely to allow Rose to feel his own gratitude, commitment, and determination of honoring her request and meeting her challenge. He noted the subtle, sure smile that graced her lips and knew it meant his message had been received.

Jasper met Alice in the room Esme had set aside for them and was surprised at the fierce embrace he received from his little pixie in greeting. "Hey, not that I'm complaining, but uh…what's this for?"

"Because I love you." Alice replied simply and kissed him securely on the lips. "And I can't wait for tomorrow night." She added with a coy look.

"Oh, I know that look. It means that I won't necessarily like the results of my training session with Rose tomorrow, will I?"

Alice shrugged her shoulders in response.

"But it'll put me in a mood to love my time with you the night after, won't it?"

This time Alice's answer came as a smile. "I just know you'll want to vent your anger or maybe it's excitement you'll want to vent, but either way I'll be there."

"You'll always be there, won't you?" Jasper needed to hear her say it.

"I'll always be there," the small vampire repeated the words exactly. "Want to get a head start tonight?" She asked already knowing the answer.

"Hmm…if only. But I should hunt before tomorrow, especially now that I know the mood Rosalie's training will put me in. Speaking of, I also need to find a training field. You wouldn't have any ideas, would you?" He hinted.

"As a matter of fact, I know the perfect place. I'll hunt with you, and then we'll go check it out."

"Now, how can I refuse that offer?" Jasper grinned coyly and grabbed Alice's hand before leading her over to the window where they both easily leaped to the ground below and made a run for the tree line.

The next morning, Jasper and Alice returned to the house to find most of the occupants packing suitcases. "What's going on?" Jasper asked Alice confused, but knowing that she would probably already know what was happening without having to ask any of the others.

Alice was silent for a second as she flipped through her visions that she had purposefully shoved away last night when she was busy with more important things. "Carlisle, Esme, Edward, Bella, Nessie, and Jacob are going to Forks sooner rather than later. Assumingly, to see Sam. I only know because that's the direction they start running in, and then they go black. But it's what they were talking about last night. It's just happening a little sooner than I expected is all. Nessie and Jacob must be really anxious for answers."

"Alice is right, as always, but you could have just asked us." Esme's sweet voice called from the direction of the kitchen where she was packing some human food to take as a snack for Jacob if he got hungry during the trip, and didn't want to take time to hunt. "I know the rest of you will take excellent care of the house. Don't forget to water the flowers. Alice, I'm putting you in charge of that, and Jasper, please try to get Cassie to do something other than sit in her room upstairs and read and work on puzzles. There is more to life than that. I got the feeling last night when we were playing together that something's happened in the time we were apart, but I didn't ask, and I don't expect you to tell me anything, but just know that we're all a little concerned and we're here if you need anything."

Jasper flinched at the thought that even Esme had noticed how withdrawn Cassie was. "I'll try and thank you. We may tell you someday, but right now, Alice and I know what we're doing." He promised. "I need to go get changed, have a good trip. We'll see you when you get back." He gave his adopted mother a tight hug.

"I'll be up in a minute." Alice promised as her husband left, then turned her full attention on Esme. "What do you know for real?" She asked.

"About…?" Esme asked uncertain.

"About Cassie. You know more than you're letting on. Did Cassie tell you anything?"

"I only know that after I left her, she spent all the rest of the night locked in her room with my design books."

"I know you're concerned, but just leave it at that for now, please, Mom." Alice begged.

"I don't know if I can. Is there something more I should know? You can talk to me. I've been through this with each of you at some point or another."

"I know, but no, I can't involve you in this. Not yet at least. Not unless it becomes a problem. And right now, this is the only way." Alice insisted.

"It might be a little for that. I think it is a problem now. But alright. Cassie's your responsibility. I guess you know best. Just let me know if I can help." Esme's motherly concern was obvious.

"Thank you." Alice said sincerely and leaned in to hug her mother tightly.

"Lesson one, attack or be attacked," Jasper called as he faced off against Rosalie from opposite ends of the field Alice had shown him the night before.

Rose's posture was relaxed, too relaxed as she let out a small huff. "How is that any different from what we've been doing? What we've always done in training?" As she spoke, Jasper had started pacing back and forth at a human speed, slowly, casually, working his way closer to Rosalie's end of the field with each pass.

"Oh, it's very different, this isn't ready, set, skirmish. This is attack or be attacked, an all out war." He said the words carefully.

Jasper was now less than five feet in front of Rose. He hesitated, waiting, watching, observing, giving her every opportunity to throw the first blow of the fray. But she stayed relaxed, unprepared for what he had planned.

"I don't get it. I still don't see a difference." Rose growled in frustration, but no sooner had the words left her mouth than Jasper sprung into action. Moving at full vampire speed, he was on top of her, swinging one leg behind her knees with enough force to bring her to the ground. In the same instant, he had both her arms pulled tightly behind her back, away from her body. He could feel her efforts of trying to fight back, but his grip remained strong. It wouldn't take much for him to rip her arms off completely, but that wasn't the point of this exercise.

Jasper took an extra second to transfer both of Rose's wrists into one iron clad grip, and lean the rest of his body forward so that his razor sharp teeth were millimeters from Rose's neck. "You're dead." He announced before releasing Rose and allowing her to stand.

"So, not the same." She admitted quietly, examining her wrists for damage.

"Not the same." He repeated. "What lesson did you just learn?"

"Don't let the enemy get too close."

"Right. And?"

"And always keep my guard up."

"Good. Anything else?"

"Never underestimate the enemy. I didn't know what I was thinking when I asked to attend the Major's school of Warfare."

"Flattering. But a strategy that would only be effective against a vampire just out of his newborn year."

"Worth a shot." Rose said as she finally decided on an attack plan and lunged for Jasper.

The two struggled for only a few seconds before Jasper's teeth were at Rose's throat and her arms were pinned to her sides. "And you're dead again." Jasper announced as he released Rose and jumped back so that several yards now separated the two of them.

"Never take the easy, fast, or obvious attack." Rose mumbled to herself as she recovered.

"Good." Jasper said, but gave Rose no more time before he attacked again with vampire speed.

After several more small battles that had all resulted in Rose's potential death, the two found themselves both exhausted, and laying flat on the their backs in the field. "Ugh, I'm never going to beat you, am I?" Rose asked frustrated. "You hunted last night, I didn't, that's hardly a fair fight. And those last couple of times, I promise I felt you trying to manipulate me."

"Well, I tried, but you were focused enough that not much got through. I was impressed. But it's a good sign. It's even more evidence that you'll be successful at mastering what I'm calling the Texas technique. And it gives me some ideas on where to start tomorrow."

"Two things. Texas technique, as in that thing only Maria can do that you still haven't told me the details of? And tomorrow?" Rose's eyebrows raised at the thought of doing this all over again.

"All will be revealed in time." Jasper said sagely, but his eyes widened almost immediately. "Oh, crud, that just made me sound like Alice, didn't it?"

"I think it's kind of cute." Rose teased.

"Anyway, I'll explain as we work up to it. And what's wrong with tomorrow? I mean we might as well take advantage of the fact that Carlisle and Esme and Bella and Edward and Nessie are all going with Jacob back to Forks to meet with Sam. There's not much else to do here and Cassie entertains herself these days." Jasper almost wished he hadn't mentioned Cassie to Rosalie, but it was too late now. He hated to dwell on why she was so intent on entertaining herself and staying at home all the time, and now was certainly not the time to think about that or to let Rose know that anything out of the ordinary was happening with the newest Cullen, his daughter of sorts.

Thankfully, Rosalie ignored the last comment and focused on the one about Jacob instead. "Stupid dog just has to have it all, doesn't he?" She snarled.

"Not that it concerns either one of us, yet." Jasper responded.

"It will concern us when Carlisle comes back and says it can be done."

"That may not happen. And even if it does, Jake will certainly have to stop shifting before he can be changed. Both you and I know enough about the wolf gene to know that won't be easy as long as his imprint is surrounded by a house full of vampires."

"Vampires that the entire Quileute tribe has come to know very well. We're no longer feared as we once were by his people. Maybe that will have some effect on the gene. And even still, you and I both know enough about the world where fairy tale creatures are real to know that it will eventually happen."

"Perhaps. And when it does, we'll deal with it."

"Which side are you on this time, anyway?" She knew that Jasper would know what she was really asking, so no clarification was needed.

"I don't want to get in the middle of an imprinted relationship. But at the same time, I don't know what we would be creating if we brought Jacob into this end of the fairy tale world. He spent so long hating us, to allow him to become one of us, to betray his family heritage…" Jasper shook his head. "I don't know, Rose. I honestly don't. The Volturi have left us alone for twenty years, but what if they find out about this, and it sets them off again? There's always going to be another Winston in their mix for us to deal with any time they decide to come. Can we survive something like that again? And what if he can't handle it as a newborn and we're forced to destroy him? Or worse what if we can't destroy him and he becomes the monster of all monsters in our fairy tale world? It would kill Nessie if this is anything but a complete success. And that would kill all of us."

"So, let's assume that it will be a success. The Volturi don't find out. He makes it past his newborn year without anything too tragic happening. And he's able to completely follow his love into eternity, his imprint into forever. We're only left with the personal cost of leaving his entire heritage behind. That's something none of the rest of us ever had to face. Is it fair to allow him to give that up? Not even Bella had to give up her heritage, and when she did finally have to give up her parents, it was ok, because they believed that she was ok. Jacob won't have that with his tribe. They'll understand the imprint thing, but not the betrayal of who he is thing."

"Exactly my point. Alice is already on his side. She thinks that if he was one of us, she would finally be able to see him, and hopefully Nessie by proxy."

"She can't do anything without that stupid sight of hers, can she?"

Jasper's eyebrows shot up at the insult to his mate, and he had to swallow the growl that was building in his chest. "Watch it, Rose. Battle training is one thing, but talking about my mate that way is a good way to lose your head."

"You can't tell me you haven't thought the same thing."

"Doesn't matter." He did growl this time, and flashed Rose his teeth. She was really pushing him to the limit of his patience with this turn in the conversation.

"For the record, Emmett's on his side too. We talked about it for some time last night, and he figures that Jacob's already not a human, not really anyway, thanks to the wolf gene. So, it's not one of those situations he would classify as forcing a human to love us just so we can change them. Not that it would be that anyway given that he imprinted on Nessie when she was only a baby. I still don't get his reasoning on that one. Anyway, Em also figures that a newborn Jacob would actually be a challenge for him. If he wrestles him as a wolf and then again as a newborn, and wins both times, he'll prove once and for all that it's his talent trumping Jacob's talent not just a vampire beating a wolf. Go figure."

"That actually makes sense."

"Men. So, are we done?"

"Only if you want to be, but I must say that I would be a little disappointed."

"Why? You won every battle."

"Yeah, but it's something Alice said last night that made me think that you'd win at least one battle, just to put me in my place."

"What did she say?"

"She kind of hinted that we would be having a very enjoyable evening tonight."

"Really?" Rose's eyebrows shot up and she grinned wickedly. "How so?"

"Anger sex, ok. Or possibly excitement sex, if you must know everything. Sometimes, you are as bad as Emmett. Either way, it implied that something unexpected would happen on day one of training. And I expected to win all the battles for at least the first week. It's how training always works. The teacher wins for at least a week before the student finally catches on."

"Again, two things. How can Alice not see the difference between anger sex and excitement sex? I mean, I know your definitions are different from mine and Em's, but come on! And second, are you implying that I'm just an average student like in a movie or something? Since when have we ever been average?"

"Enough about my sex life, already. And of course, you're not an average student, I just didn't expect anything special today until Alice implied something was going to happen and then I got my hopes up."

"For anger sex because you lost to me on day one. Don't worry, you won't be missing anything tonight." And with that Rose had flipped on top of Jasper, beginning another battle. This one lasted a little longer than some of the others, and Rose was actually employing some of the new techniques she had just learned. Soon, she had managed to pin both of Jasper's arms behind his back. Before she could get to his neck, however, he freed one of his arms and went for her neck only to be surprised by a sharp sting when Rose bit his hand. He growled, but the momentary distraction of the bite was all Rose needed to get her teeth in position at Jasper's neck. "You're dead." She panted. "Now, go have anger sex with your wife."

"Ow." Jasper responded, now free of her hold and rubbing his quickly scarring hand. "Alice isn't going to be happy about this."

"But that's good in this case, isn't it?"

"I'm going to ignore that. Good use of teeth, by the way. Impossible not to do it, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, you were right. Biting is inevitable. And I'm sure that I'll get mine eventually. You were holding back today."

"Maybe." Jasper said cryptically, and they both started to run toward the house.

"I just overheard something I wasn't supposed to, or maybe I was, but that doesn't matter. I heard it none the less and I'm not happy about it." Emmett said coming into the room he shared with Rosalie an hour later.

"What did you hear?" Rosalie asked casually.

"You've been taking private fighting lessons from Jasper?"

"Yes, and?"

"And you could have told me. Maybe I would have wanted to come. I mean, we can never have too much fight training."

"No. This is my thing. My thing to focus on so that I'm not so much of an emotional wreck. Besides, you wouldn't want to witness some of what we're doing anyway. This is hard core training. No holding back."

"You bit him! How could I not want to witness that? My girl, the tigress!"

"It's not as glorious as you make it sound. It's hard work." She hesitated only a moment before adding the next part. There were just some things that it wasn't right to keep from her mate and husband. "And eventually, we're going to get to the point where he could accidently bite me, too. And we don't need you interfering in an overprotective mate sort of way when that happens."

"Like crud he's going to bite you! Not if he wants to live for very long." Emmett growled and double checked every visible inch of his mate's body for any hint of a scar. "Maybe I should go have a little talk with that war monger right now if he thinks he's going to get anywhere close to being able to bite you."

"You can't talk to him now. He and Alice are having anger sex tonight, all night."

Emmett's eyes widened impossibly larger. "Ali and Jazzy? Having anger sex? In the house? Tonight? Right now? I don't believe that! I would hear it! Not that I want to hear it, but you know what I mean."

"Theirs isn't like ours, Em."

"There is only one way to have anger sex, and if theirs isn't it, then they deserve to be interrupted. Hope Alice sees me coming!" He growled and took off down the hall.

"Jazz, I think you're going to need to go talk to Emmett." Alice said as she relaxed on their spacious bed wearing only her bathrobe, and scanning the future as she waited for her husband to exit the equally spacious closest.

"What? Now? Why?" Jasper stammered as he came fully into the room. He was wearing jeans, but no shirt. And even from across the room Alice could feel his love and desire.

"Oh," she breathed at the feeling. "Emmett heard me ask about your new scar when you first got home."

"And?" Jasper was frustrated at Alice's around the world approach to explaining her comment.

"And he was upset when he heard you tell me that Rose gave it to you while training. He wants to come watch next time."

"I can't risk that. If I let him come, it's going to have to be to participate, not to observe. And even as a participant, it's a risk. Rosalie knows that and she won't let him come if she thinks there's any chance he'll interfere with the training. Why do I have to get involved?"

"Because he's thinking about coming to see you. Decide to let him come to training. Let me check what will happen." Alice ordered.

Jasper took a seat on the bed next to his mate and closed his eyes for exactly three seconds before opening them again. "Ok. I'll ask him to help with Rosalie's training next week."

Alice scanned the future quickly looking to see if it would be a good idea. "He won't like it very much at first, but if you structure it the way you're thinking, he'll adjust to it." Alice flinched at a flash of something in one of her visions. "You may want to slow it down a bit though. He dislocates your shoulder if you move to the next step too quickly. Oh, and let him be the first to bite Rose. If you do it first, he chews your leg off. Not a pretty picture. And you'll have to keep reminding him to use his full strength when he's holding Rose. She'll get too use to his easy treatment and when you trade spots, she'll have to start all over again with her training. I think it'll work in the end. By the time you add me to the mix, she'll be able to beat about anyone in battle."

"Should I ask him now?"

"No, it can wait until next week. As soon as you ask, he'll say yes, so no advanced planning needed." Alice leaned in to plant a healthy kiss on Jasper's lips. "Wait, no, it just changed. He's definitely coming to see you, and he'll need the distraction. You can head him off in the hall. Good luck."

Jasper growled lightly at the thought of having to put the rest of his evening on hold. "Will it take long?" he asked rather than promising to be back soon.

"No." Alice whispered, slightly disappointed in the delay as well, but knowing that it would be well worth the wait when her husband returned.

Jasper grabbed the first shirt he came to in the dresser drawer, not even caring who the designer of the plain white tee happened to be.

"Hey, Emmett, glad I ran into you." Jasper greeted his brother in the hall half way between his and Alice's room and Emmett and Rose's room.

"Good, Alice saw me coming to talk to you. Now, I don't have to walk in on you in the middle of…"

"Emmett!" Jasper growled roughly at his brother. He was very close to crossing a line that Jasper didn't want crossed that night of all nights. "I'm going to cut to the chase here. Alice saw that you overheard my conversation with her earlier and from that you've gathered that I'm training Rosalie on advanced fighting techniques. I know you aren't happy about everything that could entail. It's all over your emotional center. So, I'm going to make you a deal. Give me the rest of the week to work with her one on one. I promise on my word of honor that I will not even attempt to bite her during that time. Then next week when we train, you can join us, and when you see how good she is, you'll want to help to make her better, and even then I promise not to bite her until you say it's ok. I'll even let you bite first just to see that she can handle it."

"Oh, I know that my Rosie can handle a couple of bites, but if you think that I'm going to bite her while fight training with you, you've got another think coming. There's just some things that should never be mixed."

"Get your mind out of the gutter! Besides, I thought you were adventurous!" Jasper teased his brother with a smirk.

"Not like that I'm not. Serious battle training should never be combined with foreplay. They use completely different parts of your brain. You can't tell me you've ever tried that with Alice."

"I didn't have too. Anyway, that's none of your business." Jasper smiled to himself when he thought about the first time he had ever tried to teach Alice to fight. It was part of their deal. He'd try eating animals. She'd try to learn to fight to protect herself. He was so serious about all of it. He never knew if Maria would try to come after him, and he didn't want to put Alice in any danger if she did. If he could teach her to fight, he could protect her. Then, there was sweet, innocent, Alice, who just wanted to have fun with all of it, and show off her ability a little. In the end, she was right. He had been taking basic training far too seriously, and since then he had more fun while teaching Alice.

"Whatever. You gonna teach the rest of us any of this advanced stuff?"

"If you want me to, I'll teach you. And if Jake's changed, I'll teach him. But Edward doesn't need it, he has his own brand of fighting. And Carlisle, Esme, Nessie, Cassie and Bella don't have the heart for it. And there's nothing more I can teach Alice." Again he got a faraway look on his face as he thought of his mate's unique fighting style due to her ability.

"Dude, maybe Rose was right. Maybe I shouldn't have interrupted your play time." Emmett winked at his brother. "You keep spacing out whenever you mention Alice and then you start broadcasting…and well, you know."

Jasper fought to reign in his emotions, sucking them back to himself like a vortex. "Sorry. It was unintentional. But just you don't worry a bit about me and Alice. Just worry about yourself and your own wife. Speaking of, I kind of need an answer that you won't interfere this week and if you want to be around to help train next week."

"What's your goal in all this?" Emmett asked suddenly.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean…do you intend to make Rosie as much of a fighter as you?"

"No. If she's successful, she'll be better than me. She may not be able to beat me one on one even then, but if it came to a real war, a life and death war, she would win over me every time. She could take on bigger and stronger opponents, and take them down faster and more efficiently than I ever could, even in my prime."

"Just promise me you'll let her keep who she is. I mean, the cold, unemotional her was bad twenty years ago, and the way over emotional her is bad now, but it's preferable to before. She really just needs to find a balance between the two extremes, and I don't want her to get too close to the unemotional end again."

Jasper smiled humorlessly. "Don't worry, Em. I don't want that either. And if she's successful, it'll be a good thing. She'll be able to let herself feel without over feeling and when the situation calls for it, she'll be able to remove herself from her emotions without forgetting who she is at heart. I was never able to master the technique, so I forgot who I was when I had to fight. But Rose has something now that I didn't then. She has her mate. I can only imagine how my time with Maria would have been different if Alice had been there. Not that I ever would have wanted to expose her to that horror. But we would have kept each other sane, and maybe now, you wouldn't be afraid to have me teaching Rose."

"Jazz, you know I'm not really afraid to have you teaching Rose, in fact I wouldn't want anyone else but you teaching her advanced fighting techniques. I just don't want her to lose herself."

"Like I did."

"Well…yeah." Emmett admitted embarrassed.

"It's ok. I understand. If I was in your place, I wouldn't want anyone teaching Alice to fight unless I knew for sure that they wouldn't force her to lose her soul in the process. And someone who lost their own soul long ago would probably force her to do the same now. But the good news is that I have my soul back. I have Alice now. And because she's my soul, I never even tried to teach her any of what I hope Rosalie can learn."

"What makes you so sure Rosie will succeed? I don't know if I could handle it if she tries so hard, and then fails."

"Because I learned the method I want to teach her from Maria, and like Maria, Rose has it in her to master it. She knows herself first."

"I still don't know exactly what it is you're hoping to get her to do."

"It'll be better if we just show you. Next week. Rose herself doesn't even know yet. I didn't want to tell her and have her worrying about it too soon."

"Right. So, I guess I'm just going to have to trust you then."

"Yep."

"What time are you training tomorrow? I promise to stay out of the way, I just want to know what time."

"7 AM. Alice saw that we would be needed here in the afternoon. Something about a call from Carlisle she's expecting. So, we're starting early."

Emmett nodded. "I'll see you afterward then. Maybe if something changes with what Alice saw and Carlisle doesn't call, we can play chess or something. I've missed the challenge."

"Yeah, me too, Bro." Jasper said honestly and with a nod he headed back down the hall to his mate.

He paused for just a minute as he passed in front of Cassie's bedroom door. Raising one fist, he prepared to knock on the door. But instead, of knocking, he simply lowered his hand again. What had happened to his family? He and Alice were still fine together, but neither one of them seemed to be connecting to Cassie much lately. They spoke when they had to, and interacted on occasion. But then there were days like today when he hadn't even seen her, much less spoken to her. He tried again to force himself to knock on the door, and again he failed. He bowed his head, wishing he could cry to release the tension he felt at not even being able to talk to Cassie. What was wrong with him? _Goodnight, Cassie, sweetheart. I love you. _He thought to himself, unable to bring himself to speak the words aloud. What had happened to them to cause this seemingly irreparable rift? Shaking his head, he passed the room without knocking, and returned to his wife. When he got there however, the mood from before had been shattered, and they spent the night simply lying next to each other in silence, each engrossed in their own separate thoughts and activities.


	3. Texas Technique & The Element Vampinium

**Author's Note: Thank you so much to eveyone who has continued to read and review and add to favorites and alerts. I know it's been while since I've gotten a new chapter up and I hope you all enjoy. Oh, and since I just typed up this chapeter today, it hasn't been edited yet, so please forgive me for leaving out the occassional word. I promise to repost an updated version one of these days, but I wanted to get something out there. **

**Disclaimer: If you recognize it, it belongs to the awesome Stephenie Meyer. Everything else is mine.**

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><p>"The concept is to stay absolutely Vampire still no matter what. Wait. Watch. Listen. Observe. Then when the moment's right, strike hard, strike fast." Jasper explained as he circled Rose in the clearing at precisely 7AM that morning. "Remember, Vampire still, no matter what." He warned her one last time before finding her emotional center and sending her a tidal wave of conflicting emotions. Anger. Fear. Despair. The effect was immediate as Rosalie dropped to her knees with a half-growl, half cry of anguish. Jasper tapered the emotions of and steadily replaced them with a stream of pure calm. "Better?" he asked simply.<p>

"Yeah. What was that?" Rose said wishing he would let her be angry with him for blindsiding her like that.

"That was an attack." Jasper said simply. "By the end of the week, I expect you to be able to stand absolutely Vampire still for at least thirty seconds of that."

"Oh, there's no way." Rose whined.

Jasper tilted his head to the side, but didn't say anything or try to manipulate Rose's emotions. Just the same, he started to feel her doubt fading and a trying spirit take over her emotions.

"Fine. I'll give it a shot. Do it again." Rose finally conceded and stood up, firmly planting her feet and growing absolutely still.

Jasper did as she said and shot the full blast of emotions at her and again she went to her knees within a millisecond of feeling the wave. Again Jasper tapered it off slowly and replaced it with calm. "Do you feel that?" He asked her slowly. "The draining away of everything but calm. Memorize that feeling. That's what you want to try to accomplish. I may be manipulating you now, but I know you can do this yourself. Just concentrate on whatever I make you feel, then imagine it draining away, leaving only calm in its wake. Try it. Stand up. Close your eyes if it helps, and just feel."

Rose did what she was told without argument, and this time she felt only one emotion coming from Jasper. Unfortunately, it was also the hardest for her. Despair. But she did as Jasper had instructed her and just allowed herself to feel it. She could still sense her body curling in on itself, but at least she wasn't falling to her knees this time. She imagined it draining away and forced her limbs to unwind from around herself. She still felt it very strongly, but somehow she was able to keep herself still regardless. A split second later, she felt anger and fear added to the mix and just like before it over powered her and she was on her knees before Jasper.

"That was good," Jasper encouraged his sister. "You ready to go again, or do you need a break?"

Rose opened her now black eyes to Jasper and let him feel her determination. "I almost had it. Let's go again." She rose to her feet never breaking eye contact with Jasper.

After several more tries, Rosalie was finally able to stand on her feet for a full five seconds when Jasper threw all the negative emotions he could at her emotional center.

"Alright, that was great. But remember this is a process, internal focus gives you five seconds, and that'll get better. This time let's try an external focus. Instead of thinking about the emotions draining away, don't think about them at all. Think about something else." He held onto her shoulders for a few seconds as he rotated her body so that it was facing one specific tree on the opposite side of the clearing. "Like that tree. This time, think only about that tree. Start at the bottom, the root structure, and work your way up to the tips of the ant chewed leaves. How does a tree grow from a sapling? How does photosynthesis work? How many leaves are on each individual branch? Whatever it takes to keep your focus on that tree and off of your emotions."

Rosalie nodded half to herself and half to Jasper as she contemplated what he was asking her to do. The process was much the same as it was when he had asked her to focus internally. He started with despair alone, and she managed to cope, but only for a precious few moments until he added anger and fear, and then she was on her knees. But they continued, and eventually, she was able to stand Vampire still for five seconds with an external focus under the onslaught of emotions Jasper was torturing her with.

Finally, the siblings could take no more and mutually decided to end training that day with a hunt. It was on the way back to the house, that Rosalie finally asked the question that had been burning in her mind all day. "So, what does all of this have to do with the Texas technique, anyway?"

"Everything. It is the Texas technique. The longer you're able to stay unresponsive under a variety of attacks, both physical, and mental, the longer you'll have to observe your opponent's weaknesses and the more energy stores you'll have when it comes time to attack back. It's nearly impossible for our kind to achieve. Your instinct is to fight back sooner rather than later using whatever methods you can. But the Texas technique is all about passivity. Which is why you have to know yourself before you can do it, otherwise, you wouldn't be able to control your instincts."

The rest of the week continued in much the same way, and by the end of it Rosalie could remain completely Vampire still for a good 20 seconds as Jasper fed her the full force of negative emotions in his arsenal. They were both so exhausted that neither one had the energy to tell Emmett no when he insisted on showing up for Rosalie's training earlier than they had originally agreed to. Jasper wanted to protest more than anything, but one look at Alice was all it took to melt his resolve. She wouldn't let him do this if there was any way that it could end badly for any of them.

Carlisle, Esme, Edward, Bella, and Nessie had been back in the Forks home for a full week while Jacob was trying to negotiate with Sam and the few members of the pack who had not yet stopped phasing. Time was passing slowly, much too slowly for any of their liking.

"Alright, Carlisle, what are you hiding?" Edward demanded as he entered the attic lab in the Forks home that he and his adopted father had shared off and on for the better part of three decades.

"I don't know what you mean," Carlisle told his son innocently.

"I know you're trying to block me. You've been reciting the periodic table of elements to yourself ever since you got back from talking to Sam today. Now what are you trying to hide?"

"I'm not trying to hide anything." Carlisle denied once more, shaking his head at Edward as he shuffled a couple of beakers around on the lab table in front of him.

"You're trying so hard to hide whatever it is from me that you're using the old periodic table. You just thought Berkelium before Californium. They switched them 10 years ago when they discovered an ionization process for Californium to account for the extra electron Berkelium generated."

"Well, it is rather hard to remember all the changes the table had to undergo with the introduction of Xyzelgium." Carlisle admitted with a small smile. He sighed and gave Edward a serious look. "I'll tell you what's going on only if you promise not to mention it to the rest of the family until I know something more certain."

"I promise. But what about Alice?"

"She won't see anything. Take a deep breath."

Edward did as he was told and was immediately assaulted with the burning wet dog smell. "Nessie said she and Jake might come by this evening. Leave it to my daughter to have the perfect timing. I guess I can't complain, at least it got them off the reservation. I really hate having her spend all her time there with him, instead of here with us."

Carlisle laughed richly before speaking again. "You know, Jake's going to stop phasing soon rather he wants to or not. All of our tests this past week have confirmed that. And his latest blood sample is even more conclusive than the last. According to Sam, it's almost unavoidable. Jacob's reached his time. I'm going to have to start monitoring him even closer. Perhaps move him from 12 hour blood samples, to 8 hour samples."

"I know all this, already." Edward said with a sigh.

"Are you going to be ready when it happens?" Carlisle asked seriously, knowing that the simple words were all Edward needed to hear to know what he was really asking.

"I'll be ready. I just hope that he will be because if he breaks Nessie's heart after coming so far…" Edward forced himself to stop before saying something he would regret.

"He approached us, Edward. He wouldn't have done that if he wasn't serious. I think he'll be ready. None of us expected it this quickly, but we will adjust."

"Are you sure that it's even going to work?"

"I don't know, but all the tests we've done seem to indicate that it will. As soon as the wolf gene is inactivated, he'll be able to be turned. It may even be easier for him than it was for the rest of us."

"Or it could be worse." Edward almost wished that it would be worse on Jacob than the change was for anyone else. It would serve as even more vengeance for taking Nessie from him.

In the beginning of their relationship, everyone expect Emmett had thought they would end up as just friends, but in the end, Emmett was the only one who was right. When Nessie reached maturity, she agreed to one date with the wolf, and that one date was enough for her to fall in love. And now they were talking about marriage and Jacob was promising to stay with her forever. At first only Bella had fully understood what Jake had meant. But then they had made that announcement last week at the family meeting and now everyone understood. Jacob had even gone so far as to meet with Carlisle alone recently and had asked him if Carlisle would be willing to do the honors of changing him, since he was sure Edward would never agree to such a thing. It was just dumb luck that Edward himself had been walking past Carlisle's office at a key moment in the conversation. He still didn't know what had possessed him to push open the office door and interrupt the conversation with a promise to Jacob that would forever change their relationship.

"_No. I'll be the one to change you if and when the time comes. Anything less would be dishonorable to my daughter. Nessie is part of me, and if my venom is part of you, then it's almost like she's part of you. It's the closest thing she can hope for." In his mind, it was all that needed to be said at the time. _

_But Jacob couldn't just leave it at that. "Won't I taste terrible to you?" He had asked astonished._

"_Yeah, probably, but I can't ask Carlisle to bite a dog for my daughter's eternal happiness."_

"_Why would you want to then?"_

"_The same reason I intend to give Nessie away when you marry her. You're as in love with my daughter as I am with her mother."_

_Jacob was speechless for a minute, but he did manage to utter one more question before Edward could backtrack through the door. "Did you just give me your blessing? I mean…I was going to ask, but…I wasn't sure you'd say yes."_

"_Yeah, I think, that's exactly what I did. Now don't make me take it back."_

"_Thank you, Edward. Really, thank you."_

Since then, Carlisle and Edward had poured themselves into researching in earnest if it was even possible to turn a shape-shifter like Jacob into one of them. It had been established awhile back that if bitten in their wolf form, Jacob's kind wouldn't be effected by the venom more than just feeling a strong, short lasting sting. They had found that out when Jasper got into a fight with Paul and ended up biting him. The two at least talked to each other now, but Paul still had a little white scar on his shoulder in the shape of Jasper's teeth. That was the same fight in which Jasper had lost his arm, literally, when Jake and Embry had joined the battle, much to Alice's dismay. Thankfully, the wolves didn't have time to burn his arm and Jasper was able to push it back into place. But the incident had left Alice in a frenzy for months afterward, and she had refused to let Jasper use that arm until Carlisle was certain that the torn muscle had regenerated and healed properly. Jasper had made Edward promise to never tell Alice how much getting his arm ripped off by a pack of wolves had hurt.

_Edward had been the closest to vampire to Jasper when it had happened and thus had been the one to receive the full blast of the pain Jasper couldn't keep from broadcasting. Jasper's only thought at the time his eyes had met Edward's had been, _'Oh, crud, don't you dare tell Alice how much that hurt.'_ The same thought had been repeated when Jasper forced his arm back into his torso. The best part of the day, however, had been Bella's look of utter fascination as Jasper repaired his broken body. _

_Jasper had actually laughed at her and shrugged off her mixed emotions by saying, "Don't worry, Bella, I've had a lot of practice doing this." And only Edward had known how true that statement was as he heard Jasper calmly counting off the muscle connections in his head._

Edward was brought quickly back to the present when Carlisle turned on the speakers of his MP3 player. "Earth to Edward. Do you want to hear this or not?" Carlisle teased him.

"Sure I want to hear it. And you sound hilarious when you try to use cool phrases like that."

"Cool, dude." Carlisle commented causing Edward to first narrow his eyes and then laugh at the thought behind the words. "All joking aside, I do have something very important to tell you." Edward nodded, encouraging him to continue. "I have an important meeting on Thursday afternoon, so I'm afraid that you'll be on your own to run Jacob's tests that day." He paused for dramatic effect. "I'm meeting with Carl Jones and Bill Porter."

A huge grin spread across Edward's face as Carlisle's words registered with him. "The Carl Jones and Bill Porter? As in the two leading scientists in the field of chemical medicine today?" He finally managed to speak.

"Those are the ones. They want to talk to me about the new line of D double V medicines I introduced at the hospital. Apparently they saw the article you saw me reading when you first arrived in Maine, and are very interested in getting in on the project. The trials with the few patients I've been working with have all shown great promise. Jones and Porter are impressed enough that they are willing to help expedite the process for getting approved to conduct clinical trials at other hospitals as well. This is the first step to gaining permanent FDA approval to market D double V medicines. As you know from the article, no one has been able to break element Vampinium down into simpler components, and thus it will be added to the table, and that only adds to Jones and Porter's excitement. There's actually a team of scientists already trying to replicate my results for D double V using the facts sheet I provided them. I told them that it could only be produced in limited quantities and that I personally had to oversee its usage, and so far they are respecting that. In fact, they've gone so far as to say that even after FDA approval is granted for D double V, I'll be the only licensed user for it until I can train others on its proper usage."

"That's great! Finally! Ever since we tried it on Cassandra, I knew it would happen! Nothing can stop us now!"

"Woah, woah, slow down, not so fast, son. We can't get ahead of ourselves here. This is only a first meeting. And there is still one more hitch. The only thing that really can stop us. We still haven't perfected the synthetic double V we'll need to use in the marketable product. That's going to be the key to the real miracle medicine."

"Ok, I get it."

"Good, now get busy. I'm going to need several liters of double V solution ready for my meeting Thursday, so we need to start now." He said as he passed Edward an empty beaker.

"Ah, no fair. Rose and Emmett should be helping with this too." Edward complained, but knowing that his siblings were still in Maine, he took the beaker.

"Oh, they'll get their chance to help. Once I have FDA approval, I'll need everyone's help to manufacture D double V medicines. I suspect the front company that you and Jasper created will receive hundreds of requests every week. The front company is ready to go isn't it?"

"Yep. J&E Chemical Exports is open for business. We have licenses, a bank account, employees, we're all set. We just need some customers. And no, there's no way it can be traced back to us, Jasper took care of that end. Talking him in to going to business school was one of the best things Alice ever did. Between that, and his AC Jasper novels and modeling for JAC Fashion, I don't see how that man ever gets anything done."

Carlisle chuckled lightly, before turning serious again. "And the profits?"

"Not a problem. Jasper arranged it so that everything gets re-distributed back to the appropriate hospitals in the form of grants and large donations from magnanimous philanthropists."

"Great. That will leave the Volturi with no excuse to interfere."

"And Jasper and I can prove it to them if we have to."

"It won't come to that. They'll find out on their own where all the money's going and that we aren't making a profit, thus they won't interfere even to ask questions. And since no one will know what double V solution really is, there's no chance of exposure."

"Perfect. I'd say we're covered."

"Not quite. You still have to fill that beaker for me."

Edward growled causing venom to start filling his mouth. He obligingly spit it into the beaker and growled again, repeating the process until the beaker was full. He handed it to Carlisle with a smirk. "Satisfied?"

"No. You look like you need to hunt. Why don't you go do that now, and when you come back, you should be ready to fill another two beakers. Meanwhile, I'll return to the Jacob project. Oh, and by the way, I'll expect your assistance with creating synthetic double V. If we can have it ready to go by next month, then under the substitution and modification laws, a few simple chemical tests will be all that's needed to start using it, and in the long run that will save everyone more time and money and maybe even more lives because we'll be able to get it to more people."

"Good luck. Last time I checked, trial number 56 was still a long way off and Alice is still insisting that that will be the magic one for us."

Carlisle didn't react to Edward's comment aloud, but his thoughts told the other man everything he needed to know. "And Edward, don't make any plans for tonight. I don't know how long Jake is planning to delay voluntarily stopping phasing, and we still don't know what effect that will have on Alice's ability to see him and those of us around him. And I wouldn't want her to see anything that would cause her to interfere with the Jones and Porter meeting or D double V medicines. I love her for trying to help, I really do, but this is one of those things that needs to happen naturally. At least for now."

Edward nodded his understanding quickly before disappearing out of the attic lab.

"Daddy!" Nessie jumped up from her place on the couch as Edward passed through the living room.

"Hello, sweetheart." He replied, lightly kissing the top of her head. "Would you like to join me on a quick hunt?" He asked, looking over her head to where Jacob and Bella sat talking to each other.

"Sure!" Nessie said excitedly and ran back over to Jacob to kiss him goodbye. "We'll be back soon." She gave her mom a hug and returned to Edward's side. "So, where are we going?"

"Oh, not far. I just haven't been in a couple days and thought now would be a good time." He saw Bella give him a look over Jacob's shoulder, and he smiled in return to let her know that everything was ok.

Less than an hour later, Edward had taken down two does and a stag, and Nessie had managed to drain two does as well. Now the father and daughter duo sat talking under a tree not far from the Cullen home. "Oh, I've missed having you around." Edward told his little girl. "You and Jacob are spending way too much time on the reservation for my liking."

"I've missed you too." Nessie admitted. "But Jake needs to be close to his people right now. They all say they understand why he's considering what he is, but at the same time, he's afraid, they're all just going to hate him after he's changed. After all, it wasn't that long ago that he was convinced he would hate Mom once she was changed. Who knows, if it wasn't for me, he may have hated her. Besides, Jake and I also have a wedding to plan."

"He proposed? When were you going to tell your mother and me?"

Nessie blushed. "I just did."

"Well, congratulations."

Nessie's eyes started to water with the unexpected emotion. "Really, you mean it? You're happy for us?"

"You're in love, and that makes you happy, so yes, that makes me happy too. I only gave him my blessing a week ago, that kid moves fast."

Nessie laughed musically. "He actually asked your permission?"

"Sort of. But that's between me and him. You know, your Aunt Alice is going to have a field day helping you plan everything, you and Jake don't need to be worrying over it without her. It would be cruel to leave her out of such an important event."

"I know, but it's a good distraction. And Alice can change anything about it she would like within reason. Jake just doesn't like to think about…you know…being changed. Becoming one of us." Nessie brought her hand up to show her dad pictures of Jacob's frustration and fear and worry. Last she showed him a conversation the two had just the previous evening.

"_Nessie, I haven't been able to phase once since we got back to Forks. I think it's time for me to talk to Carlisle more about the procedure. We told your family it could happen at any time, and it's happening now. I can see it on his face with each blood draw he does." Jacob had been saying to her._

"_Let me talk to my dad first. To make sure that he's ready." She had told him in response. _

Now in the present, she was saying, "I know you'll be ready at a moment's notice. You were for Mom. But what I really wanted to ask you was, is there any way I can be the one to do it? I want Jake to wear my scar like Mom wears yours."

"It's impossible, Renesmee, you know that you don't produce the necessary venom."

"But what if I had some of yours or Carlisle's, or even Mom's venom in my mouth when I bit him? That would work, wouldn't it?"

"No. It wouldn't. You wouldn't be able to get the venom deep enough. He would still change, but it would take longer, and be harder on him."

"Then, what can I do? I love him, Dad. I just want this to be as easy as possible for him, and I thought that if I could be the one to bite him…" her voice trailed off as Edward pulled her into a tight embrace.

"I know, and the best thing you can do for Jacob is just to be there for him during the change. You might not want to actually be there when I bite him, but afterward, he'll need you."

"No, I can handle it." Nessie said as she showed Edward pictures of her at school.

"This is a little different."

"How so?" She showed him a picture of one student getting a paper cut and another being injured during gym and getting a bloody nose. "I can handle it."

"Yes, I suppose you can handle the blood, but that's not what I meant. The first bite hurts the most. You might feel so protective of him or so empathic toward him, that it'll make things worse. We'll need to be very careful, and we can talk about some of the other details later, but know that it won't be easy. At all. Your instincts take over and it's very hard to control the desire to stop this other vampire from hurting your mate."

"But it's like Uncle Jasper always says. There's too much human in me for my instincts to be a real problem. Remember when the two of you were first teaching me to hunt." She showed him a flashback of the memory.

"And this is another time when I hope he's right about that. But we'll just take it one step at a time for now." Edward stood and brushed himself off before running back to the Cullen home.

On the day Emmett showed up to Rosalie's training, Jasper could only glare at him for the first few seconds. "Don't interfere with this training, Emmett. In fact, for the first couple of rounds, I just want you to watch and observe how far Rose has come in her training. Then, I'm going to take it up a notch, and that's where you'll come in. And just so that you'll get the full effect, I'm going to let you feel everything that I'm making Rose feel. Can you handle that without that without attacking me?"

Emmett shrugged. "I guess. How bad can it be if you expect her to be able to fight you through it?"

"Fighting me isn't exactly the point, it's more about…well, you'll see for yourself. Just know that Rosalie is exceptional when it comes to this technique."

Emmett shrugged again and leaned back against a tree to watch his mate in action.

Rose cast one meaningful look at Emmett before turning her full attention to Jasper. "Ok." She whispered letting him know that she was ready. Normally he wouldn't have even waited for the utterance, but Emmett's presence changed the rules of the game. At least for now it would.

Jasper sent Rose and Emmett equal amounts of negative emotions, but his focus was solely on Rose's reaction. It made him a little proud to watch as she remained stoic for a full 23 seconds, a new record, before finally dropping to her knees with a defeated sigh. As usual, Jasper slowly backed the emotions off of both her and Emmett and replaced them with pure calm. Rosalie recovered quickly and was back on her feet, fully ready for the next challenge, but out of the corner of his eye, he could still see Emmett on his knees in front of the tree line. "That is what you've been doing to my wife every day out here? I should destroy you for torturing her like that!"

It was the only warning Jasper had before he felt Emmett's body crash into his. Jasper quickly subdued Emmett and had his arms pinned to his sides. "You're kind of missing the point here. The point isn't what I'm making Rose feel, it's how she's reacting to it. Did it look to you like she was being tortured?"

Emmett looked over at his wife who had run to their end of the field to help control her husband if necessary. "I guess not," Emmett finally mumbled after seeing for himself that Rose was ok.

"No? Well maybe that's because she's doing exactly what I'm training her to do. The Texas technique is about standing down instead of standing up. Do you understand the difference?" Emmett nodded, so Jasper continued. "I've been teaching Rose not to react to anything that could and does happen in a real life battle situation. I've started with attacks from other vampire's abilities because that's usually the first thing to happen in a battle. Those with abilities start using them, even before they can physically attack, they are attacking with abilities. I want you to go back to your post over by that tree and watch again. I'm not going to let you feel anything this time, but know Rose is getting exactly what she got before, and this time, I want you to just watch her. Ok?" Emmett nodded again so Jasper released him.

"You sure you're ok, baby?" Emmett asked Rosalie, now embracing her and kissing her. "That was awful."

"I'm fine. Really," Rosalie promised as she pulled away from Emmett and everyone returned to their original posts.

Again Jasper sent waves of intensely negative emotions to Rosalie and again 23 seconds passed before she could no longer stay vampire still and dropped to her knees. But unlike last time, this time, Emmett was really watching his wife and as Jasper helped Rosalie to emotionally recover, he could only stare at her in shock, his mouth hanging open. "Trying to catch flies?" Jasper teased him lightly as he helped Rosalie to her feet.

"That was incredible, beautiful," Emmett finally breathed out.

"That's what I was trying to tell you." He looked at Rosalie and tilted his head to one side as he made the decision to go ahead and take things to the next level. "Ok, Rose, I think you're ready to move on. In a real battle, you're going to be attacked from multiple angles with multiple methods. This next exercise is going model that. It's going to start the same way, but hopefully, Emmett is still willing to help me, and there will be surprise twist to it. Emmett?" Jasper looked up at his brother and nodded with his head to the opposite end of the field where they could talk in whispers and hopefully not be overheard by Rose.

Emmett looked between his mate and his brother for only a split second before following Jasper to the other end of the field. "What do you need me to do?"

"I need you to physically attack Rose."

"What? No way. I can't do that."

"You won't hurt her. Not permanently. We both know that. I can get Alice to do it if you aren't ready, but trust me. For Rose to really master this, she needs to be attacked both mentally with my emotional manipulation and physically. You'll keep it simple. I'll feed her negative emotions for about five to seven seconds, and then you approach her from behind, quickly, and pull one of her arms back behind her. Pull it almost to the breaking point. If she responds like I imagine, the first few times we try it, she'll turn and attack you, maybe even bite you or dislocate something. But eventually, she'll learn not to react to that as well she doesn't react to my emotional manipulation. In fact, I imagine that the physical attack will give her just enough extra to focus on that she can last longer under my manipulations. You can still say no if you really don't think you can handle it, but I can really use your help. Remember, all the way to the breaking point. Don't go easy on her. Eventually, I'll be the one to physically attack her, and she can't have gotten use to a soft touch from you. Understand?"

"Yeah," Emmett mumbled with a nod. "But…uh…could you show me once? Just so I know for sure what she's going to be going through. I promise it won't make me go soft, I'll still use the right force and everything, I just need to know."

Jasper studied Emmett for a moment. "Fine. Let's go behind the trees so Rose doesn't attack me for hurting you." Emmett followed, and as soon as they were behind the trees, he released a growl at the emotions Jasper started sending him. He could feel himself falling to his knees, but there was no respite from the crippling emotions, then without warning, one of his arms was twisted roughly behind his back, almost feeling like it would break. He tried to instinctively fight off the attacker, but the emotions prevented him from doing so.

Jasper released Emmett's arm and slowly replaced the negative emotions with pure calm. "Satisfied?" he asked simply. Emmett nodded as he struggled to regain control.

"You really want me to be that rough with her?"

"Yes."

"Where are you going to take this next? Where are you going to draw the line?"

"That depends on her. I would like to see it get all the way to the point where I'm holding you hostage and feeding both of you negative emotions. Alice is attacking Rosalie by actually breaking her fingers and almost breaking her arms and biting her, then at the right moment Rose breaks from Alice and rescues you from my clutches." Emmett shook his head in a combination of awe and shock.

"I…I…don't know…"

"She can get there, Em. I know she can, but not if we don't take things further than we are now. So, are you in?"

"Yeah, I'd love to see my Rosie beat you and Alice to a couple of pulps to rescue me."

"Ugh…not what I had in mind," Jasper groaned as he felt Emmett's emotions.

"I don't care, if it's what's going to get me through attacking my wife, then so be it."

Rosalie snapped to attention when she saw Jasper taking up position at the opposite end of the field from her, but she didn't bother to check where Emmett was. A mistake that would cost her this time, but one that she would learn from. She could feel the beginnings of the negative emotions now, and closed her eyes to help focus on staying absolutely vampire still. The emotions couldn't have lasted for more than a few seconds when she felt her arm being ripped behind her and pulled almost to the breaking point. It was unexpected and instead of taking time to process what was happening, she simply reacted, and spun around to face her attacker and retaliate. Before she knew it, she was on the ground with Emmett pinned beneath her. "What in the world was that?" She screamed in her mate's face.

Emmett held up his hands cautiously, shocked at Rose's violent reaction. "Multiple kinds and points of attack." He helped Rose to her feet and glared daggers at Jasper. "So much for a positive reaction."

"Hey, relax, Em. It was to be expected. It was your first attack."

Rosalie smiled apologetically at Emmett and kissed him gently on the lips. "I'm sorry I yelled at you, baby, I just wasn't expecting that. Let's go again. I'll be ready this time."

"You should have been ready that time. Always be ready for anything in a battle situation." Jasper warned her before returning to his position half-way across the field.

The scenario played out much the same way the second time and the third time. But on the fourth time, Rose didn't turn around and attack, instead she simply flinched and fell to the ground in surrender. "Sorry. I'm really trying. Can we run it again? I think I've got it this time." Rose begged the two men.

Jasper nodded to Rose. "Ok, one more time. But I want to change it up again. Emmett." He looked at his brother and nodded across the field.

Emmett followed Jasper without question until they were out of ear shot. "What now, Jas?"

"I want to see if she's learned anything yet. About not reacting and expecting the unexpected. Go for her neck this time. Twist it almost to the breaking point. If she attacks, we'll know this isn't working and we can try something else. If she manages to ignore it, or to simply fall like she did that last time, we'll keep going. And if that happens, keep changing it up between one arm, both arms, and her neck until she's gone as far as she can with this stage. Oh, and just so you know, all I'm expecting from her today is three seconds of non-reaction. She'll get better as we keep working. That scenario I told you earlier is still months away. I don't even plan on involving Alice for at least another two weeks. I want to get Rose to the point where she can remain unresponsive, then break free from a captor, and attack a second captor before I introduce another factor. Oh, and just so we don't have to keep side baring like this, if by chance she gets to the point where she doesn't react to your attack at all, hold steady with your pressure, increase it incrementally, just enough to let her know you're still there. We'll add in another element next week, like you biting her, while you twist her arm to the breaking point. Or maybe even go as far as actually breaking her finger."

"No. I'm not doing that. And I won't let you do that either. I'll break your fingers before I'll break hers."

Jasper thought for a minute as a slow smile spread across his face. "Actually, that's not a bad idea. I'm going to file that away for later."

"What me breaking your fingers?"

"No. Me breaking yours."

Emmett paled if that was even possible, and swallowed hard. "Why?"

"Another way of torturing her. If I'm hurting you, it's going to be even harder for Rose to stay still and not react, but that's what she's going to have to do. Because if she reacts too soon, Alice attacks her, and that doesn't help either of you. It'll be a lesson on waiting for the right moment. I should only have to break three or four fingers. Not even a whole hand's worth."

Emmett shifted uncomfortably. "Can we just get through today, please?"

"Of course. And remember don't go easy." Jasper offered him a smile and they returned to their positions.

Like each of the times before, Jasper started by manipulating Rose's emotions, and after about 7 seconds, Emmett came up behind her and this time grabbed her by the neck twisting it almost to the breaking point, but unlike the previous scenarios, this time Rose didn't even flinch at the contact. Emmett panicked for a split second thinking that he had really hurt Rose, so badly and to the point that she couldn't even react to it. His grip loosened, but Jasper's words echoed in his head and he retightened the grip, this time earning a small moan from Rosalie. He watched as she fell to her knees.

Jasper beamed in excitement as he watched the scenario play out. "That was great, Rose! You held it for almost two full seconds that time! That was amazing!"

Rosalie rose back to her feet and offered Jasper a weak smile and pulled Emmett into a tight embrace. "Yeah. It's not good enough. I need to go longer, and still be able to focus enough that I can observe and wait for the right moment to strike."

"We'll build up to that point, Rose. You're doing great, I promise. You've already come further with the Texas technique than I ever could. I think we're done for today, but tomorrow, we'll pick up from here, and you'll do even better, I know it."

"I know it too, Rosie," Emmett said as he leaned in for a kiss. "Let's go for a hunt. I know you need it after all that."

Rose nodded her head in agreement and followed Emmett into the woods, leaving Jasper standing alone in the clearing that was the Whitlock Academy of Warfare, reflecting on that day's training and looking forward to tomorrow.


End file.
